So, how activate are the gods in your settings, /tg/? (If they exist) What are their myths and what are the truth in those myths? How are religions shaped by them? Or do they prefer just worship and allow mortals to do whatever? Is morality dictated by them? Do demigods exist? What powers do your gods have? Is worship needed for them to exist or gain power?

>>95669242 (OP)
>So, how activate are the gods in your settings, /tg/?

Very active, I guess. The sun god is the sun rising and setting every day, the god of the harvest makes crops grow, etc.

>What are their myths and what are the truth in those myths?

All myths are true.

>How are religions shaped by them?

The gods hand down rituals and prayers to the priests and followers. Some deviation is permitted, but the expectation is that proper prayer and ritual will be performed and the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner. There are rituals that exist for appeal in special cases.

Non-priests receive greater leeway, and in their cases devotion and genuine need have greater weight than proper form. The earnest prayer of a lay farmer is also more likely to receive the desired response than the insincere but correctly worded prayer of a priest.

Mortals are given to know that it's a do ut des system.

>Or do they prefer just worship and allow mortals to do whatever?

Gods have their festivals and rituals they desire. The harvest god has a festival at the end of the harvest season, the war gods have rituals they desire before battle and after. The sun god desires certain rituals at the equinoxes.

Some gods, like the god of the sun, get to 'cheat' because everyone who looks up at the sun, feels its warmth, etc., counts as 'worshipping' him.

>Is morality dictated by them?

Gods demand certain behaviour, but some things would be morally correct in and of themselves.

>Do demigods exist?

Yes. Their powers vary.

>What powers do your gods have?

Varied, thematic powers. Generally they are immortal and their potency depends on the amount of worship they receive, which in turn allows them to influence their area of responsibility.

>Is worship needed for them to exist or gain power?

They would exist without worship, but they would be severely constrained in power and an unworshipped god is basically just a super strong person who'll live forever.

>>95669242 (OP)
you first

Gods have varying interaction with mortals, depending on what they're the god of. The Gods of the winds, the earth, and the seas do what they do regardless of mortals, unless a mortal happens to go out of their way to piss them off (which isn't actually that hard to do, you can just be an arrogant ass that boasts there's no storm he can't sail through or something) and there are gods that are directly tied to more civilized concepts of war, poetry or cities.
The biggest impact the Gods have on mortals is the simple fact that every single person alive has a soul, and that soul is handcrafted by a God. If you try to reproduce without a God making a soul, it will be a stillborn every single time. So you pray to a god for a baby. Typically this is going to be a prayer to a god of fertility, childbirth, marriage or something related directly to it. you CAN prey to the god of storms to make a soul for your baby, but:
1) He probably isn't going to risk stepping on the toes of the Gods that are there specifically for that and
2) Even if he did, he's going to turn your kid into a storm in human form, it's what he knows how to do.

This also means that whatever God made your soul has implicit claim over it when you die. This can mean a hundred different things depending on the God, but the general take away is: What ever tenants the God that made you prescribes to are things you had better adhere to because you WILL answer for the way you lived when you die.

>>95669811
Your games must be so fun, with all the effort you've put into world building for them.

>>95669921
I have more put more effort than you. And I've even ran games, unlike you.

>>95669940
No you haven't, and no you don't. contribute or go back to faggit.

>>95669757
They exist but barred from directly doing acts in the mortal worlds due to the risk of them destroying them.

I FUCKING LOVE RA!!!!! I LOVE HIS BIRD FACE! I LOVE HIS BOAT! I LOVE! I LOVE HIS SERPENT FIGHTING HOBBY! I LOVE HIS STATUS AS AN OLD MAN!

>>95669242 (OP)
>So, how activate are the gods in your settings, /tg/?

The gods exist mainly in two separate realms from the mortal world, one aligned with Law and one with Chaos. There’s also a god of Balance that resides in the mortal world and mainly does their best to keep the other factions in check. They thus usually manifest weaker avatars or empower followers as needed.

>What are their myths and what are the truth in those myths?

Most major myths are probably true, which usually tell tales of how the gods caused some major event, but tales of demigods are unproven.

>How are religions shaped by them?

The god of Balance doesn’t really have much in the way of followers, but they do have the occasional

>Or do they prefer just worship and allow mortals to do whatever?

The god of Balance doesn’t really interfere with mortal affairs or answer prayers much, if at all. The Law and Chaos gods have more dedicated followers, but people still tend to be casual in their worship if they’re not a priest.

>Is morality dictated by them?

No, they work on a Law vs Chaos scale. I want to avoid how Warhammer makes the Chaos gods Evil with a capital “E”.

>Do demigods exist?

There are some legends about demigods, but none have been seen in recorded memory.

>What powers do your gods have?

Each god, in addition to their alignment to Law or Chaos, save for the god of Balance, has a divine domain or two that they rule over. For example, the god of Ice/Winter is a Law god, while Fire/Summer is a Chaos god. I could use some suggestions in this department, actually.

>Is worship needed for them to exist or gain power?

Nope, but it does make it a little easier for them to act in the mortal realm.

>>95669242 (OP)
They only influence things if ritually invoked or truly required to cause a miracle

>>95670005
>contribute or go back to faggit
You first.

>>95669242 (OP)
Classical Deism (God created world and that's all.)

>>95671131
I did nigger:
>>95669916

>>95671181
How active is he in the setting?

>>95669242 (OP)
I’m working on my first setting and I could use some advice on how to create the gods in it. I’d ask my old DM, but he just tended to use existing deities, particularly the Greek ones. So, what are the most important things to deal with when crafting deities, and what do you use when doing so? I stumbled across this Pamphlet of Pantheons, and I’m going to ask the Share Thread about it, but if there’s anything else you can recommend I’d be happy for it!

>>95669242 (OP)
My last setting where I spent any time on gods, they were basically collective tulpa. If a critical mass of people agreed on a general behavior/personality for a god, that god could manifest inside of anybody's mind. While manifested inside that person's mind, they only had access to that person's knowledge/etc, but they weren't limited to just their followers/believers, though they were rather geographically limited. So if you're an important person, you can expect a half-dozen gods regularly trying to talk you into doing things, even if you don't believe in any of that stuff. If you're an Emperor, you have an "emanation," a god of what people think of you; the same goes for cultural heroes, and of course traditional boring "god of the forest" types.

The locals don't actually know this, though, they think all the gods are real and just lie/are misinterpreted/speak in riddles a lot.

>>95669242 (OP)
Gods exist on multiple levels of powers with the highest ranking ones being the ones empowering the lesser ones, forcing them to align with them for the purpose of funneling souls to their direction.

The greatest secret in existence is that even these primordial gods can be replaced because that's how they got there to begin with. All you have to do is nibble on Soul essence and avoid being scooped up and slurped like a juice box. More often than not, you might be invited to join their particular faction if you vibe with their ideas.

>>95669921
Worldbuilding doesn't make a game good, and these threads in particular are just failed novelists masturbating over a bunch of half-assed ideas that will never see the light of day. And then bumpfag's going to show up and keep resurrecting this garbage for a month out of autistic obsession.

>>95672321
What is their purpose? And go on from there.

>>95672321
Cool stories. Basically every god from fantasy or mythology you can remember has a cool story associated with them. Come up with 1-2 cool myths for each god that explains stuff like mortality, marriage, the seasons, etc.

>>95672421
This faggot is right. Most players don't give a flaming monster pajeet designated shitting street poo about worldbuilding, whether it's official or some shit you came up with, and they're there at best to jerk themselves off about their own masturbatory power fantasies.

>>95672421
>>95672696
Gay wanna-be Jannies, the /40kwarhammer) thread are not here.

Anyways, who is the creator god, the one who made the universe, in your setting?

>>95672727
Shut up faggot my post is the first post I fucking contributed more to this faggot-ass thread than you did.

And it's the Source of All Things, an ur-deity that is so far beyond even the gods as to be unknowable and beyond interaction with. It is held to be generally benevolent, even though it is responsible for All Things, which includes evil in all of its forms, and the Chaos Spirit, the ultimate antagonist to all life and creation.

>>95672421
Cool factions don't make a game good. Maps don't make a game good. Monster rosters don't make a game good. Balanced combat doesn't make a game good. Strong core mechanics don't make a game good. Guess we shouldn't waste any time trying to do those things well.

Stupid.

>>95671014
How do said rituals work?

Alron sits on the dragon throne of the universe, he is ORDER, rationality, civilization and justice. He acts through his clerics and his faithful multitudes who civilize the chaotic wilderness in the world

>>95671249
>How active is he in the setting?
Dear retard-kun. Deism means "God is completely inactive."

>>95678547
I thought deism meant one creator god, but not specifically that of Abrahamic religions?

>>95679704
No, that's theism.

>>95678547
Dear nigger-sama Thank you for clarifying, I was unaware of that and I'm glad to of learned something today.Nigger

>>95677769
How do these gates work?

>>95669242 (OP)
Basically they're very active but a lot of it is "behind the scenes" lucky rolls are basically the gods giving favor while unlucky rolls may be disfavour. Votive offerings may bring favor in the form of pluses on rolls but the offerings have to cost money and they don't always equate automatic bonuses. Because my character is a Haruspex they are very active in signs and omens to him and about things around him.

>>95669242 (OP)
In the setting of my current long running campaign (3 years so far) the gods are very much real, there's plenty of evidence that they are real.
The only snag is that they are, by all accounts, fucking dead.
Their supposed remains are even used to fuel certain magitek technologies.
That said, there are also signs that they are might not be entirely gone. There are echoes and phenomena still linked to them that hints at their existence.
Clerics and Druids and shit worship the dead gods as dead gods, my character is a sort of maverick that doesn't buy that for a multitude of reasons.

>>95686202
>lucky rolls are basically the gods giving favor while unlucky rolls may be disfavour.
Reminds me of Goblin Slayer.

>>95691127
i vaguely know there is some sort of DND meta thing going on but I legit don't know much about GS. I honestly did it because gods typically don't mean much to typical adventurers and frankly that's very much not how most of history operates so now everyone can access the gods but clerics are the mystical weirdos who get that extra level of intervention.

There is an experiment I want to run one day where clerics don't have access to their spell list but just pray for assistance and the DM, acting as the god, grants whatever level appropriate spell they deem appropriate if one at all or even just apply them at times they deem fit (better keep up those offerings if you want your wounds healed)

>>95669242 (OP)
My gods are the embodiments of the Sun and Moon, and literally sustain the works with their light and presence, and most myths about them are true. There are other deities, but they’re the children of the former two, conceived during eclipses, and much less powerful. They actually get a bit of boost from worship, their parents are so powerful it wouldn’t matter even if they did. The cults of the two parent gods are the most powerful, but their kids are worshipped both in a minor role there and in their own cults. Speaking of, all the minor gods take primarily after one parent or the other and I’m trying to come up with some spheres of influence that make sense for each side, what do you have in mind please?

>>95669242 (OP)
Gods walk the earth in my settings. Typically in disguise like any real world celebrity. This fact tends to make most commoners more polite, for fear of pissing of a god, demon, or spellcaster hidden in plain sight.
Characters can even become gods, if they do the right quests, gain enough levels, and make the right connections.
Most, however, die in the attempt and suffer the same fate (or worse) as any other mortal.
Gods that die (permanently) travel to the underworld and receive judgement the same as any mere mortal would.
Those who performed poorly in life (or unlife, if undead) receive appropriate "hellish" afterlives bereft of their divine power.
Those who performed well, get to be reincarnated as mortals with all their knowledge and skills intact, essentially getting another shot at gaining godhood.
Some make it. Some don't.
This means that if you kill the BBEG and the judges decide he performed his heinous job as a villain well, he'll be reborn as a mortal, but with all his asskicking class levels.
However, due to his loss of godhood, he'll be far less of a threat to those who killed him and, due to being reincarnated, he can choose a different path in life and possibly even become a hero.

>>95699009
This sounds incredibly based, what system do you use?

>>95669242 (OP)
I don't really like ancient myth style or d&d style gods. So, people do believe in lots of different religions and so on but none of them is real or grants actual power.
There are 3 powerful beings of sorts, but 2 of them are just aliens that settled in the planet and normal people aren't aware of their existence.
The other is an "ancient soul of the planet itself" sort of, and is closer to a lovecraftian monster than to a "Gaia" type figure.

>>95708693
Sounds lame.

>>95669242 (OP)
I try to use real polytheistic religions for inspiration in D&D. Gods exist. There are stories about them. There's no concrete evidence of their existence. Everybody has different stories and different gods, and there's a general polytheistic syncretism that says "You worship a sun god too? Well sure, I can worship my Ra in the temple to your Sol--I'm sure they're the same dude even though he asks you guys to do some really weird stuff. I guess he must just like us better, but I'll respect what he asked here since that's where I am." So in my current campaign I provide my players a list and tell them "you're also free to worship any god you like and should expect people to see it as an 'aspect' of one of these major ones, depending on what you say your god does."

Here's a snip of the list contained in my setting handout.

Not too much. Doesn't stop people from believing in it. They very rarely give people boons, or punish people until their times here
Magicians are a little more linked to the gods given they're actively stealing shit, and are promptly hated. High mortality rate.

>>95669242 (OP)
>So, how activate are the gods in your settings, /tg/?
Everything could have in it some aspect that can clue mortals towards the divine. Not in a pantheistic sense, more of a "In this pool the light reflects in a way that's subtly different from how it should". These hints are so subtle that the vast majority of people simply don't see them. Those who can recognize the signals from the gods are called the "blessed ones". Becoming a blessed one is usually not completely voluntary, and is more a sudden fixation on one specific detail of something, that provokes a profound crisis when the thing's meaning is understood, and completely transforms one's life.

>What are their myths and what are the truth in those myths?
Besides the Creation Myth, that was revealed to all human cultures indipently and is understood as heavily allegorical, there's lots of them. They range from 100% true accounts, mythologized history, allegorical trhuth and outright falsehoods. Non-human races have a very different way of interpreting the divine, and even have a completely different system of gods, whose existance is a bit more ambiguous.

>How are religions shaped by them?
There are many different interpretations of the gods, many contradictory, but as long as they can produce a Blessed One capable of creating Miracles (IE, divine spells), they are considered as holding some aspect of the truth.

>Is morality dictated by them?
Indirectly, yes. Philosophers derive it from Natural Law, which derives from the gods.

>Do demigods exist?
No.

> What powers do your gods have?
They are completely immaterial, and are not usually represented in a humanoid form. Among theologians there's even a fierce debate over whether they have a will or not, but the majority agrees that they do.

>Is worship needed for them to exist or gain power?
No. It's the mortals who need the gods. Without them, nothing could exist.

>>95686161
if you astral project you can go to them and there you will find one of the guardians of the cardinal directions, the children of Alron and the consort goddesses, if they let you pass you can enter the realm of one of the goddesses. there you will find the fey (fey here are more like the norwegian invisibles or hulderfolk, which are sort of warped ancestor spirits).

>>95713533
>there you will find the fey
Why do people seek out the fey, do they have knowledge that no one else has? And what more can you say on these consort goddesses?

>>95669242 (OP)
>How active are the Gods in your setting
Nobody knows where God is.
When the world and space colonies were being eradicated by a mega virus that was wiping out all of reality, the pleas to God went unanswered by Him.
Satan helped out though. As such, Hell basically took over everything in the mortal realm because at least they did something.
Heaven? Angels? Absolutely real. 100% known to exist. They didn't act to save mankind because God didn't tell them to do so, what with Him being missing and the angelic host not knowing if the end of humanity was His will or not.
As such, humans view the angel side of things as aloof, inept, dumbasses that aren't worth a fuck because they would have just watched everyone die off while being too scared to do shit.

So the setting is a literal Hellscape with characters like Mortalis, the Lord of Maggots from the Cathedral of Incest, hiring the party consisting of the AI driven cybernetic components with a rotting corpse in it, a humanoid makeup of a bunch of nano machines working together, a twisted demon-human hybrid named Knuckle, and a regular human named Gus (that is probably the scariest thing there) to go fetch the nutsack from a castrated angel in the Bloodfields next to Shit Mountain for use in a ritual later.

>>95715589
Any old reason you can imagine. Most dead go up to Cealestis where Alron recieves the worthy, the unworthy are discarded, nut his wives have claim to some of teh souls.
To explain the goddessess quickly: The energies sparking between caelestis and tenebrae created Manus, but as stood in the storm it wounded him. From his head he bled into caelestis and this formed into Alron, from his loins he bled into tenebrae and it became Waltan and from his heart he bled unto himself and these became the goddesses. Manus loved his daughters and protected them. When Waltan and the dragon killed Manus tehy tore him apart and the goddesses lived on seperate pieces of him. Alsron defeated Waltan (after lots of other bullshit happening in between) and with the goddesses he connected the seperate pieces they lived on to the rest of manus, whish is now the world. If you look at the "map" you can see waltan being ground under the bottom of Eorden.

>>95669242 (OP)
I don't have a setting, I'm using pic related word for word for past 8 years. That's because I'm running and playing games, while you are reheating the same stale bait pasta all the fucking time

>>95672780
All of this, but unironically

You would know, if you ever, just even fucking once, played anything.

>>95713092
>Magicians are a little more linked to the gods given they're actively stealing shit, and are promptly hated. High mortality rate.
How do magicians deal with this?

bump

>>95717321
Not him, but what 'does' make a game good then? Because there's not much left after you eliminate all of those things.

>>95672421
>Worldbuilding doesn't make a game good,
It does, actually. If "to make a game good" is to contribute to a game being good, then worldbuilding makes a game good.

Everything that contributes to a game's quality makes it good.

>>95669242 (OP)

The "Gods" In my setting are platonic ideals that exist in the form of stars in space and radiate their essence into the universe, allowing those concepts to exist. Some form constellations, which form more complex concepts, like "violence" "blood" "death" forming "war", which forms even more complex and specific concepts together with things like "country" and "conquest" to form "warrior". People can align themselves with these ideals and mantle the concepts, which grants them supernatural abilities.

>>95728901
Don't bother asking him, he doesn't actually play any game.

>>95669242 (OP)
I’ve used the Norse gods in the past, but I want to change that going forward. What do I need to take into account? For starters, I know that Skadi counts skiing among her domains, what are some other less common ones that one can use?

>>95734934
What's Skadi think about nails?

>>95669242 (OP)
I have a concept for a setting I'm working on that I'm not 100% sure about

Basically the gods in this setting are ascended mortals, but because of some time fuckery that's been happening due to older, more powerful gods messing with the world, these mortals still exist as regular people in the world alongside their god selves, but nobody, including themselves, has any idea that they're one and the same, as the events that led to their ascension hasn't happened yet in this timeline

I'm not really a fan of time travel stuff but I had this idea one day and I'll see if I can make it work

>>95669242 (OP)
In my setting, true Gods don't exist. At most, a few mortals reach immortality through mastery over magic. Since ascendance in this way is so rare and hasn't happened again in a very long time now, some cultures venerate these immortals as gods. All the cultures that believe in anything else, like personified elements of nature: gods of the skies, oceans, the earth... are plain wrong about their existence.

>>95672321
Start by describing the societies in the setting and make gods based around them. What do they value? What's important to their daily lives? What's the political history between them? Where did they grow up? The majority of ancient tutelary deities have a stock powerset of "war + storms + fertility," because growing food, good weather, and protection against enemies were important for all of them. Cultures in northern climates have favourable sun gods and unfavourable ice gods, while cultures closer to the equator have unfavourable sun gods and favourable water gods. Societies with a lot of hunting will have important moon gods (full moon = night hunting), while societies with increased urbanism will start developing gods related to the arts, alcohol, and revelry. And of course, cultures close to each other will influence each others' gods, including simply adopting foreign gods as their own.

>>95669242 (OP)
The gods are basically a defense system installed by an actual godlike being and they're on their way out. One actually 'died' in the last session I ran, which will have major implications for the players and the world at large.

>>95736170
>One actually 'died' in the last session I ran, which will have major implications for the players and the world at large.
How did they die, and what are the consequences of this?

>>95734965
Kek

>>95669242 (OP)
How do the gods in Warhammer rate in your book, especially the Chaos gods, and how would you change them if you could?

>>95743035
>slaanesh
probably puts nails through cocks
>khorne
puts nails through everyone
>tezeentch
probably has plots that involve nails
>nergal
tetanus

>>95669757
Never put your own shit in the OP, it distracts from the topic changing it from being about sharing and discussing ideas into being gameless faggots (like you) picking your idea apart.

>>95743035
>especially the Chaos gods
I'm surprised that there still 'are' any other gods, given how OP the Chaos gods are.

>>95743035
A war game isn't a good medium to explore the true horror each one of them can actually embody, especially when you consider the memes that have built up about them over the years like Slaanesh being associated only with sex drugs and rock and roll and not the horror of being hollowed out chasing the first high you'll never experience again and going to cenobite levels of extremes to try and feel anything or the horror of eternally rotting spiritually and physically and being gaslit into believing this is a good thing rationalizing the crab bucket mentality as being something to be inflicted on others or Tzeentch where chasing your own tail and being made to fail on purpose for the purpose of keeping you chasing your tail hoping for some answer that never exists or Khorne and your personality being destroyed so only an irritable noise and flashing in your eyes blinds you and causes you to rage so you have to kill for maybe the faint few seconds of relief until you have to do it again.

>>95744399
Well that's exactly why, weaker gods are non-threatening enough to slip under the radar

>>95744496
Like scavengers living on the scraps of the greater gods then.

I just want you to know that I despise you, as a person.

>>95743056
What about in a post right below the OP then?

They live on the moon

>>95754043
What about shut the fuck up and stop making the same generic slop threads every goddamn week.

These faggots really want this board to be nothing but complaints about corporate drama and generals huh?
Playing pretend is the most traditional game there is you creative braindead shills. Imagining scenarios and world building are always on topic on this board.

>>95757437
You feed him then, seeing as you're so eager. Everyone else has working fucking brain cells.

>>95669242 (OP)
Very active but don't interactuate with the Earth equivalent themselves, they are too busy fighting constantly with horrors beyond your comprensionTM so the space around the planet is able to sustain humans. In the planet stuff like Kaijus, Titans and other horrors and aberration have to be fought be home grown humans and they alien allies, but Gods can guide and "scoop" the promising death ones to be reincarnated in they Elisiums (think personal worlds, they are the equivalent of mars, venus, Jupiter).

>>95762108
Why do these horrors keep trying to get to the Earth equivalent?

>>95754043
I've been warned for doing just that, telling me to let the thread persist for a while before replying to it. I even saged when I did it.

>>95766773
Really? I've posted images in an image thread I made once, to get things started off, and I think it just didn't bump. It was a while ago, so I might be mistaken though.

I've not put much stake in the gods of my homebrew, but I have fleshed out several patrons both for warlocks and just general character lore. Quick breakdown on the setting is "Discovering the new world" sea and sorcery campaign where an impassable sea has become traversible and a whole new land-mass has been discovered.

Adélie, a Trio of dryads all of the same name forming a coven in a very "Maiden, the Mother, the Matriarch" vibe. They reside on a tropical jungle island saturated with Megaflora and most importantly, the Fountain of Youth, a tropical oasis grove that has healing waters and the fruit which grant youth and vitality. Their servants are few and far between, although most certainly long lived.

Black Markus, a particularly nasty Orthon Demon. He is the patron saint of bounty hunters, hired killers and assassins. Particularly well known for a ritual that allows a person to gain a permanent hunters mark spell on their particular quarry, although this causes an infamous black spot to stain the hand of the target, letting them know that someone is out there hunting them.

Kushe-Larr, a gargantuan water elemental, he keeps to a underwater brine-sea lagoon known as the Dark Waters and calls out both via unnatural currents, frenzied fish-people and drowner cultists to lure ships into his domain to sink them. Many of his servants carry a some of the lagoon waters although the container can vary greatly, fine crystal vials, rusted hip-flasks or even a zombified puffer-fish.

Grandfather Ivan, an ancient, blind beholder. His powers of divination lead a cult of visionaries to esoteric tasks that manipulate or circumvent confrentations and thwart rivals to ensure the Beholders long life continues uninterrupted, although unclear if his machinations have a significant goal beyond maintaining the status quo. Despite his monsterous nature he takes an almost familial approach to his servants, as if they are all beloved children.

>>95773155
Cadelia Hawthorne, a powerful sorceress lich. In life she operated under the patronage of a wealthy guild of merchants who supported her arcane study, including providing her with the fuel for her rise to Lichdom. The act however was carefully calculated, as the guild took control of her Phylactery and used it as leverage over her. Now she moves in secret against the guild to try and orchestrate her freedom and revenge with whispered messages to hidden apprentices and warlocks.

The Curator, an ancient sphinx who has taken a particular interest in bladed weapons and swords of any kinds. She resides in a magically displaced temple-pyramid on the newly discovered continent and owns a particularly vast collection of magical swords that she keeps in her self-described "library". She also boasts a large collection of manuscripts both on forging techniques or martial swordplay and dueling and has become a patron to anything related to swords, from blacksmiths to blademasters.

Supreme Sultan of the Gilded Coast, Anid Sambadi, An affluent royal, who is no-so-secretly a noble djinn is exploring the new world on a massive pleasure yacht the size of a palace that is even bigger on the inside. Known for flaunting both immense wealth and magical power to suit his needs and flighty fancy, he has scores of servants and supplicants as well as patronaged adventurers and mages and the coffers to cover every bounty-board if needed to help satisfy any urge or interest that snatches his fancy, currently is that he seeks to add Dragon Turtles to his menagerie after he found Wyvern whelps to be too tempermental for the staff to handle.

>>95669242 (OP)
>So, how activate are the gods in your settings, /tg/?
Very. They made the world and they largely keep it running, and they answer prayers daily (though usually they answer 'no').
>What are their myths and what are the truth in those myths?
There's a vast library of myths about the gods and what they have done, and almost none of it is true.
>How are religions shaped by them?
Usually by dispensing visions to their chosen, or by displaying signs to whoever they think will be receptive. The gods find it difficult to speak with mortals without exploding their heads.
>Or do they prefer just worship and allow mortals to do whatever? Is morality dictated by them?
The gods all have different desires and encourage different personality traits, but their word is not considered to be the ultimate source of right and wrong. The only principle that holds true regardless of which god is involved is that the world was given to mortalkind, and everything in it belongs to them. Immortal creatures have no claim to it.
>Do demigods exist?
No, gods don't have physical bodies and can't have sex.
>What powers do your gods have?
The gods can do almost anything, but they are extremely reluctant to waste their energy by intervening directly. They find it massively easier to influence events related to their own domains
>Is worship needed for them to exist or gain power?
The gods in my setting are a metaphor for the power of ideology - a powerful idea that takes on a life of its own and controls its followers more than they control it. Active worship makes them more powerful in the sense that it gives them more willing servants, but their metaphysical power comes from experiences related to their domains. The god of civilization is powered by things like bureaucratic drudgery, the god of death is powered by mourning, mortal terror, remembrance of the dead and so on. Their followers thus attempt to recruit followers, but also to impose such experiences on people in general.

>>95738909
She'd essentially been running at 1% power for the last few thousand years, her temple was under siege from a horde of daemons and all but the paladin (who venerates her) were on death saves.

Paladin got a 25 on a Religion check to beseech her for aid. She 'woke up', poofed the daemons out of existence, but in doing so used up all of her remaining energy and went offline forever, with fragments of her power still existing within the paladin (so he can still do paladin shit).

But due to some fuckery involving their divine souls being tied with the souls of mortals, any who once drew power from worship of her have suddenly found themselves no longer able to.

>>95775322
>>95736170
were you just pissed off at the paladin player, or did you do it to give him some "protagonist" development later?
Seems annoying anyway.

>>95775390
I think the paladin's allowed to have a bit of protagonist power by virtue of being the guy who did the thing that saved the day.

>>95775390
Pissed off? No, I was elated. He'd gotten an amazing roll in his time of need, but still ended up having to pay the price without a TPK or something like that. He's my most enthusiastic player and we've going back and forth in private messages about what he wants to do with his character going forwards.

>>95776348
Not that anon, but glad to hear that you're not mad at him. What was she the goddess 'of', BTW, and are you planning on ascending the paladin to replace her?

>>95669242 (OP)
First among them is the Allfather who created the world and the gods. He's a primordial transcendent being and doesn't directly interact with mortals most of the time (big behind the scenes, though and yes he's very much Eru) gods is also a bit of a tricky classification. The setting is dwarf centered and the main god is Moradin. He and his three elemental wives make up the Pantheon of the Dwarves though Moradin is the only one with actual divinity. Moradin assisted the Allfather in the creation of the world but otherwise doesn't take center stage in. Most of the Myths and stories are about the Dwarves and how he aided them directly or indirectly.

Beyond the dwarves there are other gods though they aren't fleshed out.

>>95785553
>He and his three elemental wives make up the Pantheon of the Dwarves though Moradin is the only one with actual divinity.
What's the situation with his wives then?

>>95788182
Honestly not 100% fleshed out but roughly they have magic and can intercede on their Children's behalf with Moradin. Further they act on their husband's behalf meaning they will more often show up "in the flesh" to provide aid to the dwarves.

I'm thinking they might each have mothered a particular "race" of dwarves.

>>95791394
>I'm thinking they might each have mothered a particular "race" of dwarves.
Okay, so which one mothered which race?

>>95669242 (OP)
The gods are always "active" because they literally are the source of the aspects ascribe to them.
Their myths are explanations of how they order the world and are all literal, for instance the primary world of my setting is literally resting on the lap of the art goddess.
Various cultures have different interpretations of the gods, but ultimately the archetypes are all universal, while the demeanor changes frequently. To most people the goddess of death is a relentless malicious hunter, but in the north she's depersonified to a degree and is just generally seen as the feeling of being carefree.
There are demigod in a fashion, they're typically not traditional off spring of the gods, but usually powerful beings that may have come into direct contact with the gods and strongly embody their aspects. Many are worshipped, like the elves worship various dragons even though they're not gods, and Orcs and Humans worship an architect.
The powers my gods have basically amount to shaping reality into their respective aspects; Goddess of death and kill anything, people, places, ideas, etc
Worship isn't necessary for them to exist or gain power. The god of life doesn't even register his worshipers existence.

>>95785553
>The setting is dwarf centered
I haven't seen that before, why center it on dwarves?

>>95776135
Indeed, Paladins are awesome.

>>95669242 (OP)
Every mage has a patron deity that gives them the ability. They must always act in alignment with their patron's will, or they run out of spells and get a crippling migraine until they appease the patron. These values are subject to change, and not always aligned with murderhoboing or even surviving a dungeon (i.e. Celestial Calvinball), so mundane skills and magical/enchanted tools are the go to, with "field magic" mostly reserved for combat - healing, (de)buffs, direct damage.

One creator god who is mostly hands-off. Many gods for each faction/race that may or may not have been the first members of those races who ascended somehow, or heroic individuals who came later, of whom the exact details are still lost to time.

Many of the gods are heavily tied to the land and the autochthonous people. They have less power to shield and aid their followers the further they are from home.

>>95796696
most of this is very generic and gay, but
>Worship isn't necessary for them to exist or gain power. The god of life doesn't even register his worshipers existence.
I like this part.

>>95669242 (OP)
Active enough that they frequently take on avatars to convene with their followers on special days of worship, both to keep any heretics in line and to ensure that yes, they're real. Mostly because it's a Modern Fantasy setting, and I refuse to encourage reddit atheism in my fantasy setting.

>Inb4 christcuck
I'm an Atheist IRL, but it's fantasy; why shouldn't the gods be real and present? That's half the fun of fantasy, things that aren't real IRL can be real. And besides, gods being real is a great narrative tool as a GM.

>>95796467
Helga Stonewife is made of Stone/gems and metal and she mothered the mountain dwarves, because of her they have an affinity for mining and stonework (your standard dwarf) Hilga Flamewife is made of fire and shadow and she mothered the deep dwarves who have an affinity for magic and alchemy (Think dark iron from wow with a few tweaks) finally Hulga is made of plant life and animal life and she mothered the hill dwarves, they have an affinity for woodcraft and animals.

Each of the Dwarf-mothers taught the dwarves valuable lesson like to endure hardship (Helga) change the world around them (Hilga) and to live in balance and harmony (Hulga) they also taught the dwarves particular crafts like stonework (Helga) Alchemy (Hilga) and woodworking (Hulga). Each of the tribes of dwarves took all the lessons to heart but favor their mother above the others.

>>95801984
Because I wanted a setting that was somewhat familiar (dwarves elves humans etc) but not generic that was also influenced by the things I loved growing up (wow, Tolkien, Conan) plus my daughter really loves diggy doggy hole. So boom threw together a dwarf focused setting with enough detail for the region (Zwergenheim or lit. Dwarfhome in what is probably very poor German)

>>95815411
What happened if a child is born from the union of two kinds of dwarves? And how do they show their favor to their respective mothers besides using the skills they taught their children?

>>95669242 (OP)
What game are you talking about? How do gods show in game mechanics?

>>95669242 (OP)
In my normal fantasy setting.
The Gods have some influence on the mortal realm, but do not have power over it.
Their myths are a mixture of true histories, distorted histories, and wild exaggerations. The exact mixture varies depending on the god.
Religions are mostly guided by them, but ultimately are created and controlled by mortals. Most gods dictate a moral philosophy but ultimately there is no objective morality. If a god say murder is cool and good that doesn't make murder cool and good. Demigods exist - so does a similar concept that involves mortals ascending to a quasi-divine status but that requires some unpacking. The Gods have pretty strong divine magic, beyond what your typical mortal can wield. Some of this is powered by mortal faith, as that's something that they can draw from to power that divine magic.

It's worth mentioning that the Gods did not create the universe. They were, according to myth, important in its shaping. But there is something(s) beyond the gods that created reality and then seeming abandoned it.

>>95821200
So I don't rightly know. Tbh I'm trying to not overbuild the world and attempting to give broad strokes to fill in with play. As far as the Greatmothers are concerned all dwarves respect them but their particular Greatmothers is shown greater reverence, shows up more in iconography and shrines, prayers are typically directed towards your tribes Greatmother etc.

If I had to make a decision on the mixed heritage I'd say a dwarf favors the mother in lineage. Occasional mixed race atavism aside. Taking the ideas I had and fleshing them out the race of the dwarf comes with certain bonuses, Stone dwarves are hardier and have higher HP for example, Deep Dwarves are more resistant to heat and other external elementals while Hill dwarves are more resistant to poison and disease. Each gets a bonus to a certain craft for being naturally in tune and in things related to their favored environment.

Right now I have some flexibility on the wider details because the campaign in focusing on exploring the ruins found in a smaller mining town called Redstone so we haven't seen much of the world outside of the dwarfy dwarfy mountain dwarves

>>95824307
>Tbh I'm trying to not overbuild the world and attempting to give broad strokes to fill in with play.
Fair enough, what system does this use, BTW?

>>95669242 (OP)
>So, how activate are the gods in your settings, /tg/?
In general very, though on a very small scale since they're patrons of a single city-state and its surrounding lands.

>What are their myths and what are the truth in those myths?
Most of the myths center around the city's foundation, as well as six sacrifices the founders performed to "awaken" the Gods of the cursed lands and turn them towards helping the people instead of terrorizing them.
Each God's clergy has their own take on those myths, though the core is consistent. They're all only about half right, though.

>How are religions shaped by them?
Their clergies have established state holidays, religious rituals, themed churches, marriage and funerary traditions... but the gods themselves don't give much input on such things most of the time. Except for the sacrifices they require to rise through the ranks of clergy and gain access to their miracles.

>Or do they prefer just worship and allow mortals to do whatever?
Intent generally matters more than specifics and they don't generally go out of their way to punish behavior. But the greater the act of faith, the greater their favor in turn.

>Is morality dictated by them?
Each God has only a single moral tenet they care for and will enforce. They don't care for morality outside of that, or even each others' tenets.

>Do demigods exist?
No, but the top echelon of clergy become effectively the angel equivalents.

>What powers do your gods have?
Thematic, esoteric, and malleable. They can't really act without conduits and those conduits tend to influence the manifestation of their miracles.

>Is worship needed for them to exist or gain power?
They don't need it to exist, but they would fall into hibernation with no worshippers. Acts of faith are also like currency, with the Gods being able to perform greater miracles through their conduits the more ardent faith they accrue. And they can trade that currency with each other, in a sense.

The gods and their battles give form and still shape the universe, but they care little about mortals. Still, some people do unspeakable rituals to commune with them, some claim the gods answered, fewer still are imbued with a fraction of their power to prove it.

>>95669242 (OP)
The gods are as active as the IRL God is. Demons are absolutely real though and will eat destroy you if you let them in.

>>95827939
So, as of right now I'm running a solo/drop in drop out second player Scarlet Heroes. Modified OSE for the full as intended experience.

>>95832871
Not familiar with that, why did you choose it?

>>95839714
Long story short Scarlet Heroes is a streamlined rules lite OSR style game that’s compatible with a lot of old school D&D stuff. Rules are easy enough for my kid and I enjoy it for solo. Old School Essentials is kinda THE standard for OSR games and is really what I see when designing the setting with that old school style of play.

>>95842678
Never really played OSR before, so I'll take your word for it.

>>95669242 (OP)
>>So, how activate are the gods in your settings, /tg/?
>Very active, I guess. The sun god is the sun rising and setting every day, the god of the harvest makes crops grow, etc.
huh.
I don't think this is what you meant but this is actually a really good reason for the gods being demonstrably real, and demonstrably insanely powerful, but still being relatively hands-off and needing human prophets and templars etc.

I AM BUSY LIFTING THE GODDAMN SUN.
Yes, I want undead vanquished, yes I want to enforce societal order, yes I want to go around healing incurable diseases, but I KIND OF HAVE MY HANDS FULL HERE with a very necessary, very difficult job that ONLY I CAN DO. You're big boys, I need you to handle it as much as you can on your own. You there, you're deputized, here's a tiny imperceptibly small spark of my divine power. Use it in my stead, don't make me regret it.
Oh and mortals if you MAKE me have to leave my job and come down there I *WILL* smite the fuck out of you.

Of course, it also occurs to me that this is technically something ponies got fully right, and annoys me that I once again have to technically borrow a concept from ponies.

>>95784895
The paladin may get to ascend, we'll see what happens. There are definitely more daemons in the future for him to fight. His player is going to be away for the next session, so in character he's going to be doing some ruminating and reflecting.

The party was also split 2 - 3 for this, so the 3 who weren't there have recently put the pieces together that the gods are artificial beings (by virtue of finding a giant inactive engine with her image on it), so that'll be an interesting conversation to have.

As for her domains? It's a bit broad as she's named and viewed differently in by various cultures in the setting, but in a general sense she was the goddess of the sky, weather, the arts, wanderlust and youth. Big with free spirited folk.

>>95856740
>His player is going to be away for the next session
Is he okay?

>>95669242 (OP)
>So, how activate are the gods in your settings, /tg/?
The Gods are dead, but not dead. When they realize this, reality will be torn asunder by their wakings.

>What are their myths and what are the truth in those myths?
Each God created a People and an Instrument of Creation (a Type of Magic). This tradition is passed down by the stories of the Peoples they created and didn't create, and is largely true, but missing important context and motivations most plainly. All the Peoples knew their Gods once, but that was so many eons ago, only some scant few Elves, immortal so long as they remain in the forests of their birth, are still alive to truly remember that. And Elves are trickster Fae, who do not part with secrets, and what greater secret is there than the meaning of life?

>How are religions shaped by them?
Religion is not all encompassing. Some worship the dead Gods, some don't, and some worship new gods, lesser, but at least active entities that may or may not even exist, and some don't worship any gods at all, instead venerating their lineages, while some actively spite the Gods and seek a way to truly kill them.

>Is worship needed for them to exist or gain power?
Haha. No.

>>95861145
He's fine, he'll just be up in Scotland for a week.

>>95862097
That's good, hope he has a good time!

>>95842678
Hope that thing go well then.

>>95669242 (OP)
I play 40k as primarily a Khorne guy.